Teacher bias leads to Maori student failure

A new study from diversity
consultancy Oranui, Unconscious Bias in Education,
has revealed how teachers’ low expectations have lead to
decades of under-achievement by Maori students.

“The Pygmalion Effect is the term coined by
researchers during the 1960s and updated during the 90s to
describe how teachers’ expectations of students largely
determine students’ educational achievement,” says
Oranui Director and Principal Investigator of Unconscious
Bias in Education Anton Blank.“In this study we have compared Maori and African
American students’ experience and found very similar
patterns. Teachers in both countries have low expectations
of these groups of children. As a result Maori and African
American children lag well behind other groups at
school.

“Maori children face significant barriers
to achievement, which stem from negative stereotypes
attached to Maori as a social group. Personal and
interpersonal racism, and institutional racism, work
together to perpetuate Maori disadvantage in almost all
spheres.”

US literature shows that gaps in
achievement between individuals and across socio-economic
and racial groups open up at a very young age, before
children start school. The gaps that emerge at a young age
continue into adulthood.

“African American
children enter kindergarten behind white children, and these
achievement gaps persist at every grade level, and for every
subject. Children who are deprived of the opportunity to
learn through poverty and lack of education of their parents
do not perform well at school.

“After accounting
for these socio-economic factors, there is still a
significant achievement gap between African American
children and other groups. Like Maori children, we argue
that this can be attributed to bias on behalf of
teachers.

“Unconscious bias, a framework which we
present in our report as a much-needed pathway out of the
mire, suggests that bias is a natural human characteristic,
socialised into us by a complex mish-mash of cultural
messaging.

“We have affinity with people who are
like us and more difficulty building relationships with
people we don’t understand. It’s the law of attraction.
Teachers bias towards Maori and African American children is
unconscious. By and large they don’t consciously set out
to discriminate against these students. Teachers simply find
it easier to relate to children who are like them – from
the same ethnic group.

“In New Zealand a hierarchy
has developed. Recent research shows that teachers have
highest expectations of Asian students, followed by Pakeha,
Pasifika, and finally Maori. To mitigate the impact of these
biases, the starting point for change then is for teachers
to understand their own biases, and mitigate their impact on
decision- making and interactions with students.”

Anton Blank says that solutions to unconscious bias have
been trialled in other countries.

“In the United
States successful interventions have been developed, which
take the form of training and development programmes.

“The most successful of the programmes developed
empathy in white Americans for African Americans through a
series of association exercises. The exercises helped white
Americans unpack stereotypes they had about African
Americans, and replace these stereotypes with more positive
perceptions. The tests also helped the white Americans
understand what it is like to be a minority group.

“In this report we have focused on education but
unconscious bias impacts Maori in almost all spheres. It is,
however, absolutely possible to change the situation.

“Recognising how unconscious bias influences
teachers’ relationships with Maori students is the key to
lifting Maori educational achievement. Tools and programmes
to address unconscious bias towards Maori should be
developed and applied broadly in the full range of
education, health and social service sectors. A whole of
systems approach is required.”

This report will be
launched on Wednesday 13 July in Wellington. All media are
invited to attend.

Are New Zealanders
racist?

Racial attacks

• Data from
the 2011/2012 New Zealand Health Survey – a national
survey of approximately 13,000 adults and 4500 children (New
Zealand Ministry of Health, 2012) – indicated Maori are
almost three times as likely as non-Maori to have
experienced unfair treatment on the basis of ethnicity. 12.4
% of Maori reported unfair treatment in the areas of health
care, housing or work between 2011 and 2012, compared to
4.2% of non-Maori. Data also showed Maori were more than 1.5
times more likely to have ever experienced ethnically
motivated physical or verbal attacks, with more than a
quarter of Maori men, or 26.9%, having experienced such
attacks (New Zealand Ministry of Health, 2015). [i]•
Similarly, in 2013 the New Zealand Human Rights
Commission[ii] (NZHRC) received 496 complaints of racial
discrimination from New Zealand citizens. People of Asian,
Polynesian and Maori descent all made complaints of racism,
however, Maori reported experiencing the most
discrimination. The largest number of complaints related to
perceived discrimination in the employment area (not being
given jobs or given less favourable working conditions
because of their race/ethnicity).

Education

• Turner used interviews and surveys to
collect data from 15 New Zealand teachers and 14-16 year old
students (n=361). Her analyses confirmed that
European/Pakeha teachers held more negative beliefs about
Maori students than any other ethnic groups in their
classes.[iii] Bishop et al., (2003) has suggested it is
these negative perceptions that Pakeha hold about Maori
students which leads them to treat Maori as if they are not
capable of success which, in turn, creates a self-fulfilling
prophecy of Maori educational failure.[iv]•
Holmes, Murachver & Bayard (2001)[v] found negative
attitudes towards Maori also exist among New Zealand High
School students. Their study of 164 predominantly
European/Pakeha students (aged 12-18 years old) found
students rated Maori speakers as significantly lower on
measure of social class and intelligence than Pakeha
speakers.

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